


Catch My Footing While I Follow Yours

by thezeekrecord



Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: M/M, No Resonance Cascade, Not A Game AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:47:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26903869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thezeekrecord/pseuds/thezeekrecord
Summary: Earth has just recently made contact with alien life, and is slowly integrating into intergalactic society--and Black Mesa is eager for business deals. Darnold has to think smart to keep the mixology department alive, and has invented a new potion that may be of interest to Black Mesa's biggest sponsor, Mr. Coolatta; he takes an off-Earth business trip with Gordon Freeman to meet with him--and his mysterious son, Tommy--to pitch his potion concept. A business dinner becomes something much more, though, after Darnold and Tommy hit it off almost immediately.
Relationships: Tommy Coolatta/Darnold, boomer and frenry but they're both background
Comments: 7
Kudos: 55





	Catch My Footing While I Follow Yours

**Author's Note:**

> i have vague ideas for there to be more to this but idk if i'll have the motivation to finish it....i think it stands ok on its own though, so here it is! also No i'm not good at thinking of titles. Yes they're always references to songs and movies. what of it. (this time it's yeoman by baths)

“Hello? Am I, uhh—am I in the right place?” Darnold called, knocking on the doorframe a couple times for good measure. He gripped his luggage in his other hand, peering into the little office of the third hangar bay.

Three others looked up at him; Gordon Freeman, he recognized instantly from a couple meetings concerning this trip, and two older men he didn’t recognize. Gordon was dressed comfortably in casual clothes, as opposed to Darnold and the two old men wearing their science team uniforms.

“Hey, man!” Gordon greeted with a smile, standing to greet Darnold. “Yeah, this is the right place. Just set your luggage anywhere, it’s gonna be a little bit.”

Darnold did as Gordon said, leaning his suitcase against the wall beside the door and uncomfortably taking a seat.

“These are our crewmates, Dr. Coomer and Bubby.” Gordon introduced, indicating to the two old men.

“Hello, Dr. Pepper!” Dr. Coomer greeted, holding his hand out. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Yeah, likewise.” Darnold replied. He held his hand out to Bubby next. “Umm—hey.”

Bubby didn’t return the gesture, but he did nod amicably. “Nice to meet you.”

“We’ll be handling all ship-related matters during your trip, so you don’t need to worry.” Dr. Coomer said kindly.

“Oh, cool, so like, all that training was just in case, right?” Darnold asked nervously.

“Nothing’s going to go wrong, Harold and I have been doing this for longer than you’ve probably even been with Black Mesa.” Bubby replied, crossing his arms.

Darnold let out a relieved sigh. The training session he’d gone to had involved things like learning how to start the ship, plotting the course, what to do in case of certain emergencies—it had put him under the impression he and Gordon would be handling all of that.

“Yeah, we’ll have plenty of time to chill before the meeting.” Gordon said, brushing hair that had come loose from its ponytail out of his face. “I always travel with these guys on trips like this. I trust them 100%.”

Darnold nodded. Gordon Freeman was a man who didn’t quite strike Darnold as the business type—apparently he’d started out in anomalous materials, then did a pretty good job of helping get a new budget approved, and now was considered the go-to for deals with this very particular man he and Darnold were meeting with pretty soon. Darnold had tried to go over the pitch to expand his project with Gordon, though, and he hadn’t seemed too concerned with it—maybe Gordon intended for Darnold to just sit back while Gordon handled everything? _That_ would be nice.

Darnold didn’t have much business experience himself; the extent of his experience was selling membership cards at the bookstore he worked at during college. He wasn’t even very good at _that. Buy it or don’t buy it, whatever,_ Darnold always thought back then. This was different, though. Expanding this project was a matter of life or death for the mixology department. He _needed_ this mysterious man’s interest in his potions if he didn’t want his department dissolved.

Gordon, Dr. Coomer, and Bubby all went over the travel aspect of the business trip; it was going to take until about 6 o’clock their time to get to the planet they were asked to meet at, so that was more time to prepare his proposal. Soon, they finally boarded the ship, and Gordon and Darnold strapped in for takeoff as Dr. Coomer and Bubby got right to work preparing the ship. Darnold gripped his seatbelt tightly as he sat beside Gordon, who was much more concerned with his Gameboy than the fact that they were about to exit the atmosphere. He glanced up at Darnold, though, smiling at him and putting a hand on his upper arm.

“It’s gonna be fine, man, we do this all the time.” Gordon reassured him.

“Yeah, _you_ do this all the time.” Darnold pointed out with a shiver. “I think I have the right to be nervous for my first trip off the planet I’ve lived on my whole life.”

“Not to worry, Dr. Pepper, we have plenty of experience piloting this old cruiser!” Dr. Coomer chimed in from the navigator’s chair. “We’ll get us all there and back safe and sound.”

“Can you all shut up and let me work? I can’t hear my own thoughts with all this chatter.” Bubby complained as he worked at the console.

“There’s no reason to rush, dear, we’re well ahead schedule.” Dr. Coomer replied, turning back to his own work as well.

“Yeah, the sooner we get off this stupid rock, the better.”

Darnold closed his eyes and braced himself as the engines started up. They rolled the ship out of the hangar bay first, akin to the way planes move along to the runway first—adding so much more suspense to the whole situation than Darnold thought he could take. Then it stopped, and the engines began to roar, Dr. Coomer and Bubby’s pre-launch discussion mostly muffled.

“Are we all ready?” Dr. Coomer called over the engine.

“Yup!” Gordon called back.

“Oh, Christ, just do it.” Darnold said, every muscle in his body clenched.

Darnold’s stomach lurched as the ship began to move again. Darnold held his breath until he couldn’t any longer. As he struggled to catch his breath, the novelty of the roar of the engine and the whole ship shaking began to wear off a little bit; it sure was taking a while to exit the atmosphere, wasn’t it? He thought.

Darnold opened his eyes. Dr. Coomer and Bubby were focused on the console, while Gordon was turned back to his game. Darnold reached for his suitcase with his briefcase attached, opening up the briefcase to pull out his proposal documents. He didn’t feel like he was about to die, anymore, but he was still a little too frazzled to read his own scientific work, so he just rested his head against the back of the seat.

“Oh, shit.” Bubby said suddenly.

“Huh?” Darnold asked impulsively.

“Oh, dear! That’s not good.” Dr. Coomer added, looking at the screen Bubby was staring at. “Everyone had better brace for impact—”

The ship began to shake even more violently. Darnold yelped and closed his eyes, gripping the seatbelt in his hands tightly as he felt his proposal packet fly off his lap. Suddenly, the shaking stopped, and the engine’s roar died down. Darnold began to feel himself raise up a little; only his seatbelt kept him in his chair, now. Darnold opened his eyes as he finally began to process the others laughing.

“You guys are such dicks!” Gordon laughed. “Do you have to do that to _everyone?_ ”

“You should’ve seen your face!” Bubby said loudly through hysterics. “I’ll only stop doing it once it stops being funny.”

“Sorry, Dr. Pepper, but it _is_ tradition.” Dr. Coomer chuckled.

“H-ha. Very funny.” Darnold wheezed, clutching his chest tightly.

“If you’d like to experience zero gravity, now’s your chance!” Dr. Coomer said, turning back to the console to work.

“Uhhh—n-no, I think I’m just gonna sit here.” Darnold muttered, trying to get his heart rate under control.

Gordon unbuckled himself, though, stuffing his Gameboy in his pocket. “You want me to get you anything? Some water, maybe?” He suggested as he floated in front of him.

“Uhhh...yeah. That sounds good. Thanks.” Darnold replied with a quick nod.

Gordon pushed himself off, using the handrails on the walls to guide himself towards the back of the ship. He returned shortly after with a bottle of water with one of those straws on the end you have to bite down on to get anything out—made sense with zero gravity, Darnold thought. He accepted it gratefully.

“Thank you, Dr. Freeman.” Darnold said as Gordon sat back down with his own drink, carefully pulling his seatbelt back on.

“You can call me Gordon, man, we’re not working right now or anything.” Gordon replied with a smile.

“Oh, okay. Yeah, you can call me Darnold, too, I don’t mind.”

A few moments later, Darnold began to hear a quiet droning noise, and gravity began to push him back down into his seat. Darnold finally felt comfortable enough to stand shakily and peer out one of the porthole windows. They were still hovering outside of Earth’s atmosphere as Dr. Coomer and Bubby got ready to start towards their destination; Darnold could see the whole planet right in front of him. It was so...blue, he thought as he stared at it with wide eyes. So _tiny._

As they started on their way officially, Darnold followed Gordon through the other sections of the ship on their little mini-tour. It was all sort of cramped, but sleek and nicely decorated, giving it a private jet sort of vibe. As everyone settled in officially, Darnold sat down in front of Gordon at the dining table with his proposal packet.

“Umm...so Gordon, I was wondering if—if we could actually go over our pitch?” Darnold asked, sliding the packet towards him. “You looked this over, right?”

“Oh, yeah, I got my copy in my bag somewhere.” Gordon nodded, sliding it back. “I mean, everything looked solid to me while I was looking at it. Mr. Coolatta isn’t really a hard sell, he’s like—pretty much, if you have his interest and have all this stuff to back up your claims, he’s pretty much already sold. Easy peasy.”

“Are you sure?” Darnold worried, clutching his packet tightly in his hands. “I don’t wanna mess this up.”

“Don’t worry about it, man. You’ve already got a much more solid case than I’ve seen in the past like, 3 months.” Gordon replied casually, leaning back in his chair. “I mean, your potion is cool as hell! I’m sure Mr. Coolatta will wanna expand your project.”

Darnold nodded uncertainly. “...Okay. Thanks, Gordon.”

Eventually, after many hours of waiting around, Dr. Coomer and Bubby landed the ship—tricking Darnold one more time with a false emergency, as if he needed that kind of stress right now. Gordon and Darnold changed into their HEV suits after the ship was properly prepped; both their suits were the generic orange, though for reasons Darnold couldn’t even begin to fathom, they were also asked to wear bowties around them for the business meeting. It looked stupid, but hey, if this was what was considered normal space business attire, Darnold didn’t want to come off as too casual by not wearing one.

“Best of luck to you two!” Dr. Coomer said, giving them each a friendly squeeze on the shoulder that Darnold couldn’t feel through the suit. “I’m certain your proposal will go fantastic, Darnold.”

“Thanks, Dr. Coomer.” Darnold replied with a nervous smile.

Bubby let him and Gordon out into the airlock, where they saw through the little window a couple people already waiting for them. Darnold squeezed his briefcase tightly in his hands, trying to calm himself before they heard the chime, Bubby’s announcement they were free to go, and the door unlatching. Gordon pushed it open, revealing the ones they’d be joining for dinner tonight.

The man Darnold immediately assumed must have been _the_ Mr. Coolatta was tall—probably about 6’5, as opposed to Darnold’s staggering 5’5. He wore a dark blue suit with a perfectly straightened deep red tie that he “fixed” uselessly. He had shiny black hair slicked back, proudly displaying a receding hairline. Darnold glanced at the other two people stood by his side, furrowing his brow when he saw a Black Mesa security guard—no suit, no nothing.

“Gonna need to see your passport.” The guard said, holding out his hand expectantly.

Darnold swallowed hard. “Uhh—I don’t...I didn’t bring it?”

“Benry, leave him alone, man.” Gordon said with a laugh, pressing his hand to the guard’s face to push him back a couple steps. “I didn’t expect to see you! We’re not gonna be here very long, dude.”

“I’m Tommy’s plus-one.” Benry replied, nodding to the final man stood by Mr. Coolatta’s side.

“Oh, Tommy, holy shit!” Gordon exclaimed, approaching Tommy and reaching up to put his hands on his shoulders. “Your new suit looks so good! I almost didn’t recognize you for a second.”

Tommy grinned. “Thank you, Mr. Freeman.”

Darnold locked eyes with Tommy. He looked so much like Mr. Coolatta—maybe they were related? But he looked so much... _warmer._ He smiled back at Darnold with bright golden eyes, brushing his fingers over his yellow suit as if to straighten it out after Gordon pulled away. Darnold couldn’t help but stare at him for a long few seconds. His hair was neat, but not slicked back like Mr. Coolatta’s; he looked so much more relaxed, more casual than Mr. Coolatta himself.

“Hello, Dr. Pepper, Dr. Freeman.” Mr. Coolatta greeted, stepping forward to shake Gordon’s hand first.

“Hi, Mr. Coolatta.” Gordon said.

Mr. Coolatta approached Darnold next, holding out his hand. Darnold shook it anxiously.

“H-hello, Mr. Coolatta. It’s nice to meet you in person.” Darnold said politely.

“Likewise.” Mr. Coolatta replied, turning back to Tommy. “I don’t believe, you’ve met...my son, Dr. Pepper. This is Tommy. He, and his friend...Benry, will be accompanying us tonight.”

Tommy stepped forward, and Darnold hoped the tint on his HEV suit visor would hide the heat flooding to his cheeks as Tommy took his hand in both of his own.

“Hi, Dr. Pepper.” Tommy greeted, shaking his hand. “I like your name. We both have drink names!”

“Oh! Yeah, huh, I guess we do.” Darnold replied with a nervous laugh. “Thanks, Tommy. Umm—nice to meet you.”

Benry approached before Tommy got the chance to pull away, putting his hand on top of Tommy’s still holding Darnold’s. Tommy didn’t look put off by this, but Darnold couldn’t parse what exactly was happening.

“Umm—Benry, right?” Darnold opted to ask. “Nice to meet you.”

“Where’s Dr. Coomer and Bubby?” Benry asked, looking at the ship.

“Oh, yes, they are—of course, invited to have...dinner with us.” Mr. Coolatta said with something that might become a smile, if someone happened to catch him off guard. “I find their, company, to be rather...endearing.”

“Oh, yeah, sure.” Gordon said, fiddling with the controls on his wrist. After he’d switched the frequency on his suit radio, his speech was no longer audible; he laughed suddenly, though, as he was talking to the two on the ship. After he switched frequencies again, he addressed the group. “They’ll be right out, they just gotta suit up.”

Benry and Tommy still had Darnold’s hand. Darnold wasn’t sure what he was meant to do, but he stood there patiently as Tommy turned his attention back to Darnold.

“You make potions? Like, all the time?” Tommy asked Darnold.

“Oh, yeah! I’m uhh, the head of the mixology department at Black Mesa.” Darnold replied, wishing his hands were free to fidget with. “Umm—what about you? What do you do?”

“I work for the same people my dad does.” Tommy answered vaguely. “I haven’t really, umm—I don’t usually do business deals, though, I normally specialize in, like...safety protocols. Like—umm—what’s it called on Earth? Ocean?”

“...OSHA?” Gordon filled in with an amused laugh.

Tommy finally moved one hand from Darnold’s to snap his fingers. “OSHA! Yeah! I’m like OSHA.”

Tommy looked down at his hand, snapping his fingers again, like he’d just remembered something very interesting. He kept snapping his fingers wordlessly with a smile as the door to the ship opened up again, revealing Dr. Coomer and Bubby in their custom green and blue HEV suits—a privilege given to all ship technicians, as Darnold understood.

“Ah, it’s very, good...to see you two again.” Mr. Coolatta greeted.

“Harold and I were _going_ to have spaghetti.” Bubby complained as he moved along. “But I _guess_ we can just drop everything and eat soup through a fucking straw.”

“I’m, so glad, to hear you feel that way.” Mr. Coolatta said. Darnold couldn’t tell if he was missing Bubby’s sarcasm, or if he was matching it with his own—his voice remained as flat as always.

“A pleasure to see you as always, Mr. Coolatta!” Dr. Coomer greeted warmly.

Darnold watched as everyone greeted each other, like they were greeting old friends. Judging by Black Mesa’s frequent dealings with Mr. Coolatta, and how Gordon, Dr. Coomer, and Bubby were almost always the ones to meet with him, they probably _were_ getting to be pretty close. Darnold was starting to feel a little more relaxed, now, as the group started to walk towards some alien vehicle stopped nearby. It looked almost like the front of a sleek train, but it hovered over the ground—hover cars, of course, Darnold thought. He drummed his fingers on his briefcase nervously as the doors slid open for everyone to pile in. It was comfortable inside, like a limousine—the seats were conjoined, curved slightly like booths at a restaurant, and facing one another at the front and back, no driver to speak of, with a table in the center. Darnold tried stealthily to get in last, but he ended up sandwiched between Benry and Tommy, with Mr. Coolatta sat on Tommy’s other side. All Darnold’s coworkers were on the other side; his anxiety returned in a flood as he felt extremely out of place.

“So what’s this potion you’ve got do?” Benry asked, reaching out towards Darnold’s briefcase.

Tommy reached over Darnold, pushing Benry’s hand away gently. “No—no spoilers, Benry, I wanna hear the proposal first.”

“Bro, your fingers are so long.” Benry pointed out suddenly, grabbing Tommy’s hand and looking at them carefully. “Are they supposed to be that long?”

“Hm? Oh, I don’t know.” Tommy said, investigating his hand closely, as if it was unfamiliar to him. “Dr. Pepper, how—umm, how long are yours?”

Darnold’s face felt hot as Tommy took him gently by the wrist, pressing his palm against his own for comparison. Benry was right—he _did_ have long fingers. His palm was a little slimmer than Darnold’s, and the tips of Darnold’s fingers, even in the HEV suit, only reached about halfway up towards the topmost knuckles on Tommy’s fingers.

“I think they fucked up your skin suit.” Benry said, reaching over Darnold to press his hand up to the back of Darnold’s to compare as well. His hand was a lot more comparable to Darnold’s, if he hadn’t been wearing such a bulky glove.

“Little mistakes, are to be...expected.” Mr. Coolatta chimed in.

 _Skin suit?_ Would it be rude to ask about that? Darnold wondered. He had just assumed they were shapeshifters or something like that. What did Tommy really look like? Tommy pulled his hand away, flexing his fingers experimentally. Then he snapped his fingers again, clearly getting a lot of enjoyment out of that. That made sense—if he was in an unfamiliar body, of course he’d get excited about little things like that. That on its own was pretty cute, actually, Darnold couldn’t help but think. He seemed so excited to be in this human form, getting caught up in little tactile sensations and the sounds he could make with his hands. Darnold smiled as the vehicle came to a stop, Tommy currently fiddling with the fabric on his tie.

They piled out into what seemed to be some sort of restaurant, bustling with so many types of aliens Darnold hadn’t seen before—Earth, as things went, was sort of out of the way from larger groups of inhabited planets; once first contact had been made and Earth began settling into the greater economy of nearby systems, not a lot of aliens tended to make the trip out to Earth. To Darnold’s surprise, there were even some humans, wearing other types of space suits clearly not designed by Black Mesa. Mr. Coolatta led them all off to a private section of the restaurant, clearly reserved just for them. It was spacious and comfortable, plush rolling chairs surrounding the large table in the center. In fact, Darnold wasn’t sure an overly comfortable, almost sofa-like chair would be great to eat in, but he eased himself down anyway, this time situated on the same side of the table as his coworkers.

Darnold cleared his throat. Was he supposed to go over his proposal now, or after dinner? He wondered. There were no menus to speak of. Darnold drummed his fingers anxiously on his briefcase. He was so out of his depth—what were the societal norms in an alien restaurant?

“Um—so—a-about my proposal?” Darnold tried nervously.

“Oh, no need to...worry, yourself with that before dinner.” Mr. Coolatta replied. “Just relax, Dr. Pepper—I have asked the, kitchen, to prepare...an Earth delicacy. It should, be out shortly.”

Darnold nodded, easing back into his seat.

“Oh, what, so we don’t even get to choose?” Bubby asked irritably.

“You remember what happened last time, dear.” Dr. Coomer said, placing a hand over Bubby’s.

“Yeah, man, I’d rather have anything we eat get approved first. I _never_ wanna get my fucking stomach pumped again.” Gordon groaned.

“I can, assure you, Bubby...after _extensive_ research, in preparation for this—dinner, I have selected...only the finest dish, prepared by...the finest of chefs.” Mr. Coolatta said proudly.

Darnold wondered what sort of dish he had in mind, as they all were given interesting looking beverages by a waiter—quickly followed by the main course. Darnold stared down at the bowl set out in front of him.

“This is...” Darnold started, then stopped.

“Is this chicken noodle soup?” Gordon asked.

“Why...yes, Dr. Freeman.” Mr. Coolatta replied.

Darnold tried to suppress a laugh, but ended up snorting, despite himself.

“Is there...something wrong, Dr. Pepper?” Mr. Coolatta asked.

Darnold tried to put a hand to his mouth, his glove colliding awkwardly with the visor of his helmet. “No! Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m just—so excited, uhh, you know—love me some chicken noodle soup.”

Gordon ended up laughing on his behalf as Bubby griped about the choice of food, Dr. Coomer already preparing himself to eat. Benry picked up his bowl to chug his soup as Darnold self-consciously began preparing his suit as well. The HEV suit designed for space travel was now sporting a special Black Mesa silly straw feature—he put the end of the straw that started at his glove, suctioned to be flat so as not to let in unwelcome air, into his bowl. Then he pressed a button, and the other part of the straw released in front of his face, and it immediately began sucking in soup. It was literally the dorkiest way he could possibly imagine eating at an important business meeting, particularly when the ones he was doing business with were eating properly with spoons. Points to Black Mesa for continuing to make his life an embarrassing nightmare.

The soup itself was interesting, to say the least. They were at least considerate enough to ensure it wasn’t too hot to drink through a fucking straw, but now, it was just cold. Plus the chunks of meat were clearly not chicken—he couldn’t be surprised by that, but it tasted more like tuna than chicken, and the too-hard noodles sort of clogged his straw. He felt like he was drinking the grossest bubble tea imaginable. He chugged it down, not wanting to appear rude by turning it down, but desperate to be finished with the hellish soup experience.

Darnold felt a little nauseous by the time he’d drank the most he could from it before he’d start getting air in his straw. He eagerly pushed the bowl aside, choosing to nurse down some of the weird beverage they’d been given. This was much more pleasant; it tasted sort of like grape juice, once he’d drunk enough to clear out the remainder of the soup in his straw—gross. 4/10 on the HEV suit silly straw design.

Darnold’s coworkers looked just as nauseated by the soup, but once dinner was squared away and their dishes were taken, Darnold took a deep breath and set out his briefcase, clearing his throat. “So—umm, Mr. Coolatta, I’ve brought you a—well, you know this, of course, but...for recap’s sake, I made a potion to allow humans to survive in most any atmosphere for about 16 and a half hours, no suit required.”

Darnold opened up the briefcase and pulled out a carefully packed away bottle with the potion inside. It was a bright, light blue, glowing slightly—honestly, that was just to make it flashier. He passed it carefully over to Mr. Coolatta for him to inspect as he pulled out his client version of the proposal packet for him to look at as well.

“Everything you’ll need to know, as far as umm—how the potion works, production cost, that sort of thing—is in here.” Darnold prattled on nervously. “Basically, like—this potion, if we can mass produce it, will help immensely with humanity’s travels to other planets. Imagine, if you didn’t have to give all your human clients _soup_ all the time like this, because they’d have a potion that allowed them to survive comfortably in restaurants of your choosing without a suit!”

“That _does_ sound...quite alluring.” Mr. Coolatta agreed.

Darnold’s anxiety eased up a little as he talked more in-depth on the potion, addressing typical concerns he’d run into while testing the potion and diving right into the next phase of his proposal. Hopefully, if things went well, he could expand research and start making potions like this for other aliens as well. Sure, maybe this was out of his comfort zone in terms of his typical research and all, but with Black Mesa threatening to cut “unnecessary departments”—aka, departments not involved with off-planet deals—this was going to be the mixology department’s lifeline.

“So—if you would...” Darnold cleared his throat. “If you would consider funding this project, this could be highly beneficial to not just human clients, but—well, to all sorts of clients. Thanks for your time, Mr. Coolatta.”

Mr. Coolatta hummed thoughtfully, lacing his fingers together. “An, interesting proposal...to say the least. There is, of course, a matter of... _liability._ If a consumer—isn’t careful, in terms of time management, they could hurt themselves quite gravely.”

Darnold nodded knowingly. “Oh, yeah, that’s—yeah, that’s definitely worth considering. My plans were to require, like—well, this potion isn’t designed to be just an over-the-counter type thing, you’d have to receive and acknowledge a crash course in potion management before you can have it. And also, tell them to head back into a suit or—like, back to somewhere safe after around 14 hours, rather than the full 16.”

Mr. Coolatta didn’t look fully convinced, to Darnold’s great concern. He bit his lip, hoping for him to bring up something else he was skeptical about so Darnold could talk him through it, but he looked to the packet instead, flipping through it curiously. Tommy hovered over his shoulder a little to look as well.

“I think it’s a good idea.” Tommy said thoughtfully. “If—if we can get, um, get this to full functionality and have all safety precautions laid out, it seems like it’s, uhh—less unpredictable than having a suit. You know? If they fall or get in an accident in a suit or something, then...you know, something could crack or break in the suit. If you had the potion, and umm—like, got in an accident or something, at least you wouldn’t have to worry about air supply or anything.”

Mr. Coolatta nodded. “That is...a fair point, Tommy.”

“Yeah, if like—if you wanna lay out a partial deal, just run some more trials on what we’ve already got so far before we do anything else, that’s cool too.” Gordon filled in.

“Hmmm...” Mr. Coolatta hummed, setting down the packet. “That...won’t be necessary. I would be—very interested to see, this project through, Dr. Pepper.”

“Oh! Cool!” Darnold replied impulsively with a massive grin. “Thank you so much, Mr. Coolatta. I won’t disappoint.”

At least, he _hoped_ he wouldn’t.

After finishing up some paperwork to take back home, that was it—the deal was done. Darnold and his coworkers would return to their ship, sleep there for the night, then head on back to Earth to get started on the work approved by Mr. Coolatta. They climbed into the car, Darnold moving to sit down beside his coworkers this time. He climbed in beside Gordon, and immediately, he was joined by Tommy again, who sat down comfortably by Darnold’s side.

“I’m really—umm, I’m really excited about your potion, Dr. Pepper.” Tommy told him with a smile. “To be honest, it’s—it gets sort of annoying, having to consider atmosphere for clients all the time for work. It’ll be really nice to expand your potion for—to accommodate for lots of different people.”

Darnold nodded enthusiastically. “That’s great! I’m glad it’d be helpful for you.” After a pause, Darnold drumming his fingers again, he gave in to his burning curiosity about Tommy’s biology. “So—do you not have to worry about that sort of thing, Tommy?”

Tommy shook his head. “No, I umm—my dad and I don’t have to breathe or anything like that. We’re inter-dimensional beings. The physical world—uhh—we don’t...have to really worry about it. Which makes things sort of complicated, actually, we can’t always _interact_ —ummm, interact with it on our own, so we wear these suits. See?”

Tommy picked at the heel of his hand for a second before he began to peel at the skin. Something strained at the base of his hand, trying to come out, but as the skin flopped down uselessly, Darnold couldn’t see any true hand to speak of. He impulsively reached out to Tommy’s shed skin, poking it with his glove uneasily.

“This is a new suit, too! It’s my first time wearing it.” Tommy continued, putting his hand back on casually.

“Well—it looks good.” Darnold replied, cracking a nervous smile. Tommy beamed at him proudly, and Darnold’s heart fluttered.

This guy had taken off part of a human skin suit right in front of him, demonstrating how deeply alien he was, and Darnold still was clearly _feeling_ something about him. He got quick one-off crushes all the time, easy to ignore and move on as soon as he was done being in that person’s proximity forever. This was _definitely_ one of those times. Whoever had designed this skin suit, whether it was Tommy or someone else who studied humans to tailor this suit for him, they’d certainly had good taste—not only that, but he was so...polite, but quietly goofy, and seemed genuinely interested in Darnold’s passion for potions.

But, of course, this was going to be _that_ type of crush, where he knew they’d probably never see each other again, and he’d simply move on with his life. He couldn’t expect to spend more of his time with this eccentric, adorable man—he had an intergalactic job, and Darnold had just saved his department at Black Mesa. They’d probably never see each other again. Darnold felt a pang of loss as he climbed out of the car with his coworkers, Tommy and Mr. Coolatta walking them back to their ship politely. Bubby set to preparing the airlock through the panel on his wrist as Darnold turned back to Tommy and Mr. Coolatta.

“Thanks again, for approving my proposal. Really.” Darnold said with a smile he hoped didn’t look too mournful. “I’m really excited to get to work on this whole project.”

“Of course, Dr. Pepper.” Mr. Coolatta replied. “I have...high hopes, for your work.”

As the door to their ship opened and the ramp automatically extended, Darnold’s coworkers said their goodbyes to their alien friends. Again, Darnold sort of got a glimpse of what sort of relationships they had to one another. Gordon and Benry seemed...well...Darnold couldn’t really peg whatever was going on between them, but they seemed _very_ comfortable with each other, at the very least. Long distance relationship, maybe? He wondered. It sure seemed like literally anything Benry did had the motivation of making Gordon laugh. Dr. Coomer and Bubby spent a lengthy moment saying goodbye to Tommy—how had they met? Darnold couldn’t help but wonder. Then, they said goodbye to Mr. Coolatta—they had an interesting dynamic, that was for sure, with so many concealed, seriously delivered jokes between them, Darnold could hardly keep up with whether they were offending each other or not. Gordon seemed pretty close with Tommy too, actually; he gave Tommy a long hug before he, Dr. Coomer, and Bubby all began boarding the ship. Darnold frowned, glancing back at Tommy as he started to move towards the ship as well.

 _Ask him for his e-mail address or something._ Some part of Darnold said suddenly. No, no, it was way too late for that—and wouldn’t that seem unprofessional? He argued to himself. It wouldn’t work out, anyway, he thought as he waved goodbye and boarded the ship as well. Tommy frowned as he stood just past the doorway, watching him until the door closed.

Once they were safe to head back into the ship proper, Darnold sighed with relief as he removed his helmet.

“I need some real fucking food.” Bubby huffed as he headed towards the kitchen.

Gordon laughed as he fiddled with his hair, releasing it from its bun to wear it in his usual ponytail. “God, right? I’d chalk that down as...maybe the _third_ worst food he’s given us.”

“Oh, he tries his best.” Dr. Coomer defended only half-heartedly.

As Darnold worked at unlatching his HEV suit in silence, there was a flash of green light in front of him. Darnold jumped back in surprise, watching as Benry just _appeared_ inside their ship.

“Oh, hey, man.” Gordon greeted casually. “Dude, we said goodbye and everything, I thought you were too busy to hang out.”

“I didn’t wanna be left out.” Benry replied, flopping down in one of the seats closest to him. “So what’s up, what’re we doing tonight? Wanna play, uhh—wanna play some Halo or something?”

“I didn’t expect to see you! I didn’t bring my Playstation. You should’ve said something when I told you I’d be here tonight.” Gordon replied with a laugh, removing the last of his HEV suit. “I’m gonna go change really quick, I’ll be back.”

The others were much more acclimated to putting on and removing their suits than Darnold—he was still anxiously trying to get it all off as Dr. Coomer left to do the same, leaving Darnold alone with Benry for the time being. Benry lounged in his seat comfortably, fiddling with a part of the seatbelt in his hands.

“Sooo...” Benry said, looking up at Darnold. “You goin’ back home after this?”

Darnold nodded. “Yeah. I mean—we’re staying here tonight, but we take off in the morning.”

“You gonna, uhhh...you gonna go to sleep right now, or...?”

Darnold tilted his head. “Umm—no, it’s a little early. Why do you ask?”

“No reason.” Benry replied, pulling out a little communicator device and tapping at it. Darnold wasn’t trying to snoop, but with a holographic screen showing what he was up to from both sides, it was hard not to notice that he appeared to be messaging Tommy.

“Do you actually work at Black Mesa?” Darnold asked impulsively.

“Huh? No.” Benry scoffed.

“Then what’s with the...?”

“The wha...?”

Darnold indicated to his outfit. “The security uniform.”

Benry glanced down at himself. “Oh, yeah. Tried it once when I met Gordon. It’s comfy.”

“Oh. Huh.”

Darnold turned away as Benry began to snicker at something he was apparently getting ready to send to Tommy, which Darnold didn’t quite want to intrude himself on.

Gordon walked back into the room in a set of pajamas, sitting down next to Benry as Darnold finally finished removing his suit. “What’re you laughing at?” Gordon asked, nudging Benry playfully.

“None’ya.” Benry replied, putting away his communicator. “You wanna go out? I know this really cool place here on this planet...”

“Dude! Don’t ask me if I wanna go out _after_ I’ve taken off my suit and changed.” Gordon groaned. “How cool is it? Scale of one to ten.”

“Ten outta ten, bro, trust me.”

Darnold couldn’t help but snicker a little himself as Gordon and Benry continued going back and forth, heading to the door further into the ship. Bubby was in the kitchen, still in his HEV suit, chewing silently on a loaf of bread. Darnold couldn’t blame him as he headed back to the bedroom he’d stowed his suitcase in so he could change out of the jumpsuit always worn underneath the HEV suit. After a quick shower, Darnold was ready to start making plans for when he got home when he heard the intercom crackle to life.

“Darnold! You’re wanted in the control room.” Bubby’s voice announced.

“Oh, okay.” Darnold replied, before remembering Bubby couldn’t hear his response.

He shook his head, walking out to the control room, as requested. His heart nearly stopped as he saw a face he hadn’t expected to see again smiling back at him.

“Oh! T-Tommy.” Darnold greeted, crossing his arms self-consciously over his dorky pajama shirt that read “UM / the element of confusion”. “Whoa. Hi, um—what can I do for you?”

Bubby was already leaving the room, and Gordon and Benry were nowhere to be seen, leaving Tommy and Darnold alone. Tommy had taken off his suit jacket; he’d even rolled his sleeves up, just about halfway up his forearms. He looked sort of bashful as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Umm—well, sorry to barge in on you like this.” Tommy started. “But—you’re here all night, right? You haven’t—uhh—I heard you hadn’t been off planet before, and...well, it’s at least—you know, gonna be a while before you can take a trip out like this again, right? I wanted...umm...if you _wanted_ to, I thought I could show you around?”

Darnold was nodding before he could even process it. “Yeah! I mean—sure, yeah, that sounds great. I’d love to.”

Tommy smiled again. He didn’t say anything else, but he looked so excited, tapping his fingers together as he bounced on his heels. Darnold glanced at the HEV suit he’d left behind in its dock thoughtfully. The HEV suit would be _safe._ Tried and true, etc, etc—but he imagined that contact Tommy initiated so easily, how it might feel on his bare skin.

He shouldn’t be stupid just to show off to a cute guy he met on a business trip, he scolded himself. But, to be fair, he _desperately_ wanted to show off to a cute guy he met on a business trip.

“Hey, you wanna see the potion in action?” Darnold asked impulsively. “I could chug that, then we could wait a little bit and then head out.”

Tommy nodded excitedly. “I mean—if that’s okay, is it safe for you to do that? Have you tested it enough?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine.” Darnold said, feigning more confidence than deserved—it worked _theoretically_ , sure, but it hadn’t actually been practically tested on alien soil before. Well, first time for everything, right? _Someone_ was gonna have to take that step. “Wait here for a sec, I’ll run and get ready.”

Darnold rushed off to his room and started pulling on some nice clothes first. He thanked his past self for being overly prepared, packing away a patterned button-up and some slacks just in case he’d be seen for the business deal outside his HEV suit. He carefully fixed his hair in the mirror, smoothed out his shirt and picked up the potion, steeling himself before heading back out to the control room. Tommy began bouncing on his heels again as Darnold returned. Darnold couldn’t help a smile that spread across his face. _God_ , Tommy was cute—he was going to be really disappointed when he had to leave again, he thought.

Darnold opened the potion carefully. “Well, here we go.” He said before chugging it. He replaced the lid unceremoniously after he finished it, bouncing on his heels himself anxiously. “Well, ummm, it needs a little bit to kick in. Uhh...you wanna...have a drink? We have...juice. And soda.”

Tommy nodded enthusiastically. “Sure! I haven’t had a lot of Earth drinks before. My dad orders some stuff for us sometimes when—when I’m ummm, for when we’re working, but that’s pretty rare.”

“Oh, well, we can speedrun some taste testing, if you want.” Darnold replied with a smile, taking Tommy into the kitchen. He opened up the fridge, glancing over their options. “What drinks have you had before from Earth?”

“Ummm...let’s see...a raspberry coolatta—obviously—Coca Cola, Dr. Pepper, orange juice—I like orange juice—aaaand...I always forget what the other one is called. Benry—umm, he likes it a lot. Like—...‘Creature’?”

Darnold looked back at him with an amused smile. “You mean Monster?”

Tommy snapped his fingers. “Yeah! That’s it.”

“Well, if you like orange juice, we’ve got some of that, and also some bastardized orange-flavored soda.” Darnold said, pulling out a can of Sunkist enticingly.

Tommy’s eyes lit up. “They make that? Orange juice flavored soda?”

“Yeah! Give it a try.” Darnold said, holding out the can to him.

Tommy cracked it open, sniffing it experimentally before taking a sip. His eyes widened before he began chugging the whole can. Darnold grinned, leaning back against the fridge door as he finished off the can with surprising ease.

“This is really good!” Tommy said, immediately crushing the can in his hands once he was done with it. “What’s it called again? Sunkist?”

Darnold snorted in surprise as he set aside the crushed can. “Yep, that’s it. I’m glad you like it!”

“Can I have another, please?” Tommy asked politely.

“Yeah, sure. They stocked our fridge up with all sorts of stuff, but there’s no way all of this is getting used.” Darnold replied, pulling out another one to hand over. Tommy was clearly trying to savor this one, drinking it much slower than the first, but he still ended up done with it within the minute. “So umm—you said you do, like, OSHA safety stuff?”

Tommy nodded, wiping his mouth off on the back of his hand and crushing his second can. “Yeah! I umm—my employers offer, like, lots of different...uhhh... _services,_ let’s say. And—part of that is like, standardized safety books and stuff for—umm, for workplaces across different systems. We work to like, prevent exploiting lax workplace safety laws in other systems for monetary gain, like outsourcing labor to cheaper but less safe systems. You know? Standardizing it and making—uh, closing loopholes like that so everything stays safe.”

“Whoa, hey, we could use some of that on my planet.” Darnold said with a laugh. “That sounds like a really complicated job, though.”

Tommy shrugged. “It is. But—I mean, I like it. Is, umm—is Black Mesa treating you well?”

Darnold made a non-committal hand gesture. “It’s alright. Kinda boring, kinda stuffy, but I couldn’t ask for anything more comfortable. I work alone in my department, basically—at least, for now—so I can just sort of work at my own pace and everything. That’s nice. Plus, I get to make some really cool stuff.”

Tommy made an excited noise, flapping his hands in front of him. Darnold couldn’t help but smile wider.

“I’m really excited about your potion!” Tommy said. “Umm—how long does it need to work?”

Darnold glanced up at the clock on the wall. “Ummm...I’m kinda starting to feel the effects, but let’s give it about...15 more minutes, maybe? Just to be safe.”

Darnold gave Tommy some more drinks to try after that. He _really_ liked soda, Darnold noted—he said something about the carbonation and the caffeine made him feel “buzzy”. After maybe too many cans, Darnold was starting to feel the potion in full force, so he shut the fridge, gathering up the crushed cans and tossing them in the recycling bin.

“I think I’m good to go, now.” Darnold announced.

Tommy grinned, taking Darnold by the wrist. Darnold’s face flushed. His hand was cold, probably just from holding all the soda cans; he was so gentle as he held onto his wrist to guide him back to the control room, and continued to hold onto him as Darnold used his other hand to start preparing the airlock. Tommy was so _tall_ , standing right beside him; Darnold only reached up to his shoulder. As the door unlatched, allowing them into the airlock, Darnold cleared his throat.

“So—umm, where are we going?” Darnold asked.

“There’s this place Benry and I, umm—we go hang out there, whenever we’re on this planet.” Tommy replied, finally releasing Darnold’s hand to pull out his little communicator. Darnold couldn’t read what the text said, but there was a photo of the interior of one of those hovercars they’d been in earlier, smaller this time. “This planet is usually, like—y’know, a lot of business stuff is done here, so it has a pretty fun night life.”

“Cool.” Darnold replied, his heart rate skyrocketing as the airlock began doing its thing. The pressure started to change rapidly—it was uncomfortable, but not too bad, all things considered; soon, the other door unlocked, and Darnold was free to open it up and really put his potion to the test.

It felt...fine. The air smelled strange, sort of like how it smelled refilling his car at the gas station, but he clearly wasn’t dying. He smiled at Tommy, puffing out his chest proudly.

“See? Potion works great.” He said with a grin.

Tommy clapped excitedly. “That’s so cool!”

As if on cue, one of those hovercars pulled up nearby. Tommy took Darnold’s wrist again, leading him to it as if he’d get lost along the way—not that Darnold was complaining. As advertised in the picture Darnold had seen just moments before, this one was much smaller, only big enough to seat the two of them across from each other. Tommy pressed Darnold for more details about his job, what it was like living on Earth as the car took them to their destination; too nervous to really look at Tommy, Darnold stared out the window as he talked. This place looked a lot like a big city on Earth, actually, but the dark sky cast everything in a deep purple, and the architecture was really interesting. Sort of rounder, more sleek, and lots of skybridges and elevated walkways between tall buildings, so it was like every level of the city was just as bustling as the ground. Tommy didn’t discuss his work very much when Darnold tried to ask; probably confidentiality issues, Darnold guessed.

Suddenly, the car eased to a stop before launching up further into the sky. Darnold yelped in surprise, grabbing onto his seat to steady himself as Tommy giggled at him. The car stopped on one of the topmost floors of one of the buildings, door sliding open at a little dock and extending a ramp for good measure. Tommy climbed out, reaching out to Darnold to help him out as well. His hand was still so cold, this time their palms pressed together as Tommy looped his long fingers around his hand. Maybe he was just permanently cold, Darnold thought, trying to be sly about the fact that he was running his thumb over Tommy’s to feel the skin. It didn’t feel _perfectly_ skin-like; almost the way some silicone feels, with a little bit of a grip. He looked up at Tommy’s face as they stepped off the ramp to stand on the walkway, their hovercar closing automatically and taking off without them. Now that it was darker, Darnold noticed his eyes glowing so much more prominently—not enough to be uncomfortable to look at, but just captivating enough to never want to tear his eyes away. Tommy grinned at him as he squeezed Darnold’s hand a little tighter, leading him inside their destination.

It was, as far as Darnold could tell, a club. Your average alien club. The lights were kept intentionally dark aside from strobing lights roaming over a dance floor, with a bar at the end of the room. Tommy paused right at the door, pulling out his communicator and a little cube. He began typing into his communicator, fit his cube into a slot on it, then put the communicator back into his pocket, still holding the little cube.

“Benry and I always—umm, we always come here.” Tommy said, leading Darnold to the counter. He took up a stray menu, scanning over it carefully as he traced his finger over the words, muttering to himself. “What...would be safe for...a huuuuman...” He hummed thoughtfully, making clicking noises with his tongue.

“Umm—is this gonna be like, alcoholic?” Darnold asked curiously.

“Hm? Oh, umm—most of the drinks here, like...while safe for a human, don’t necessarily—uhh—have the same effect for you as like...the people these drinks are made for.” Tommy explained, setting down the menu. “So you won’t really get fucked up. Unless...you _wanna_ get fucked up.”

Darnold laughed in surprise. “Uhh, fucked up in what way, exactly?”

Tommy put his hand to his chin thoughtfully. “When we took Mr. Freeman here once, he tried the...” he made a strange chittering noise, something clearly in the native tongue of the planet, “and he said like—he felt like it made him high. Like...‘marijuana’ high.”

Darnold couldn’t help another surprised laugh, covering his mouth with his hand. “Wow, I didn’t take Gordon as the type for that. Ummm—nahh, I guess I’d rather not get fucked up. Maybe if I can ever come back, I’ll give it a go.”

“Okay! How about...this, then?” Tommy said, pointing at the menu as if he could read what he was pointing at. “This one tastes liiiike...like, umm—how do I describe this? It’s...sweet-ish, sour-ish? Like a—oh wait, you don’t have that on Earth. Umm...”

Darnold shrugged. “Well, if you say it’s good, I’ll trust your judgment.”

Tommy rested his forearms on the counter, leaning over it to talk to the bartender in a language Darnold didn’t understand. Darnold couldn’t help but watch him as he talked. Despite being in a new body, he seemed so comfortable with himself in a way that made heat flood to Darnold’s cheeks. God, he had it _bad_ for a guy who was a relative stranger. Tommy finished talking to the bartender and turned back to Darnold, sitting down properly in one of the barstools and leaning his head into one of his palms as they waited for their drinks.

“So...I guess you—um, you probably won’t have much reason to travel after this.” Tommy said, a frown settling on his face again.

Darnold nodded with a disappointed sigh. “Yeah. I guess not.”

“Yeah. After this, I’m gonna be...uhh, gonna be busy working in systems pretty far from Earth for a while.” Tommy replied, fiddling with his tie again in his free hand. After a brief, disappointed silence, two drinks were set out in front of them. Tommy’s smile returned as he picked up his drink, pausing to watch Darnold.

Darnold picked up his own drink, holding the straw gently and taking a tentative sip. It tasted _remarkably_ like Sprite, actually, but left a sort of warmth in his throat as if it had alcohol after all.

“This _is_ pretty good.” Darnold said with a nod. “If you like this, there’s a soda back on Earth you might like, too.”

“Ooh! What’s it called?” Tommy asked, pulling out his communicator.

“Sprite.”

Tommy noted it down with a nod. “Sprite, okay. Umm—but to be honest, I don’t know if anything’s gonna top Sunkist.”

Darnold couldn’t help but chuckle. “Man, I’m really glad you liked it so much, but I can’t say I expected an alien’s favorite Earth drink to be Sunkist, of all things.”

“Oh, my favorite is still, uhh—my favorite is still coolattas, from Dunkin’ Donuts. That’s the first thing I had when I first went to Earth.”

Darnold leaned his head into his palm curiously. “So...is your name a coincidence? Or did you name yourself after coolattas?”

“I named myself! Twice, actually—umm, we don’t really have names that are _pronounceable_ to anyone else.” Tommy explained, waving his hand dismissively. “My dad never chose any other name himself, but I wanted—umm, I wanted people to be able to call me _something._ So I chose one name at first that—uhh, that sorta fit the suit I was given at first. Still with the last name Coolatta, but you know. Then, like...well, I was given a suit that was more modeled after human women traditionally, actually, but I didn’t really...it didn’t feel right. So I asked for a different suit and chose a different name.”

“Oh, shit, me too! I mean—except for the whole skin suit thing, like...” Darnold floundered a little bit as he tried to find the appropriate words. “I guess it’s sorta different for you and all, but I mean, _I’m_ trans. I chose my last name to be Pepper while I was pursuing my doctorate, actually. I was thinking ahead.”

Tommy snickered. “That’s cool! Yeah, it’s just like—I didn’t expect it to really matter? It usually doesn’t for me, how, umm—how gender and stuff is so different between the different clients I work with. But...I don’t know, I just _really_ like being—like, being seen as a man. It’s nice.”

Darnold nodded whole-heartedly. “I agree completely.”

Tommy looked like he was getting ready to say something else, but the music in the club changed from something that could be approximated as pop-ish to some sort of electronic music. Tommy’s face split into a grin as he patted the counter with his open palms.

“It’s the song I requested!” Tommy announced, throwing back his drink and standing. “Do you wanna dance?”

“Oh!” Darnold picked up his cup as well, trying to chug as much as he could stand before setting at aside. “Okay, sure. Is this some kind of alien band?”

Tommy shook his head with an amused laugh. “No! It’s Clubland Xtreme! This is from Earth. It’s—it’s happy hardcore, like—I heard it when Benry took me to a rave on Earth.”

Darnold burst out laughing in surprise as they stopped in the middle of dance floor.

“What?” Tommy asked with a smile, taking Darnold’s hands.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect that. You go to raves?”

“Yeah! When I can. It’s—sort of rare, actually.” Tommy replied.

Darnold wasn’t really the rave—or club—type; he thought of himself as a guy who preferred quiet nights in with people he liked. The crowd and the noise as they started dancing was alright, though, Darnold couldn’t help but think as long as he was with Tommy. Tommy was really enjoying himself, too. He undid his tie and pushed up his sleeves a little more as he seemed to be getting sweaty, balling up the tie to stuff in his pocket instead. Jesus, Darnold thought to himself, he was sort of falling hard for him. It was getting more and more difficult to imagine parting ways as the night went on; he decided to push that thought aside, though, and just enjoy himself with Tommy while he could.

Once the shockingly long song ended, they sat back down, panting as Tommy ordered them new drinks. Darnold stayed up much later than he’d stayed up in a while, just to really get as much out of his only night with Tommy as he could; so what if he had to go straight to work the following morning? Eventually, though, Tommy ended up glancing at his watch and closing their tab, insisting on getting Darnold back to his ship safe and sound. Darnold’s ears rang a little bit as they stood just outside the club, waiting for the hovercar Tommy had called. After he’d stuffed his communicator away, Darnold looked down at Tommy’s unoccupied hands. They weren’t normally unoccupied. He usually found ways to keep them busy, whether that was through grabbing onto Darnold or fiddling with anything he could find; this time, though, Darnold made his own bold move and reached out for Tommy’s hand.

Tommy looked down at him in surprise before his face split into a smile. It was short lived; the hovercar arrived a few moments later, and they were forced to sit across from each other again. Tommy talked a little more about his work for once as they headed back, filling what would otherwise be silence with his nice voice. Darnold was too tired to process a lot of it, but just listening to him was bliss in the moment. The sun was already beginning to peek between buildings they drove past; at least Darnold could get in a little bit of sleep on the way back to Black Mesa. He yawned as the hovercar came to a stop, the doors automatically opening for them again to reveal the ship still parked firmly in its place.

Tommy helped Darnold out again, holding his hand gently in his own as he guided him back to the ship. Darnold sighed as he looked up at it. He was going to enjoy getting back to his dorm just for the comfort of familiarity, but...

“Um...listen.” Darnold said, squeezing Tommy’s hand a little. “I know we’re both...w-we both have jobs that’ll keep us far away from each other a lot. I don’t know if I’ll...ever be able to make a trip out like this again, and I don’t know your schedule, but...you know. Even if we might not see each other like this for at least a while, I still—I really wanna get to know you better.”

Tommy nodded. “I feel the same! Umm—here.” He pulled out his communicator, tapping at it for a few seconds and navigating through pages incomprehensible to Darnold before he suddenly began to see English; it just seemed to be a regular Gmail page. “What’s your email?”

Darnold relayed to him his personal email address, and Tommy spent a few seconds typing on his communicator; this time, he was able to see that he was listing out a couple social media accounts in the body of the email.

“I don’t know—um, what you use, and we can just email each other too, but here’s the—I have some human social media.” Tommy said as he typed, glancing at Darnold through the hologram of his screen and smiling before hitting send.

Darnold didn’t have a lot of social media accounts—he wasn’t very chatty—but he could make some new ones to keep up with Tommy’s posts, he thought. He smiled as he pulled out his phone, finding a new email from Tommy.

“Okay! Cool. I’ll, um—I’ll follow you when I can.” Darnold replied, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. “...It was really nice to meet you. Thanks for taking me out.”

“Of course! I hope—umm, sorry if this is a little...uhh, unprofessional, I know I was—I was involved with the business meeting earlier...” Tommy said, scratching the back of his neck. “But I hope we can see each other again soon. I’m gonna—uhh, I’ll have to see if I can schedule some time with my employers or something, and...maybe I could come visit you?”

Darnold grinned. “Yeah! That sounds great.”

Tommy squeezed Darnold’s hand in his own with a smile that quickly fell a little. “...Well, um...I-I guess...I’d better let you get some sleep.”

“...Okay.” Darnold murmured, slowly pulling his hand away so he could start operating the panel on the side of the ship. Once the airlock was ready for him, Darnold stepped up the ramp, now standing closer to Tommy’s height. He paused in the doorway as the ramp retracted back into the ship, holding his hand over the door to keep it from shutting. “Umm—b-before I go...can I kiss your cheek?”

Tommy grinned and stepped in closer for him. Darnold put a sweating hand on his shoulder, heart racing as he leaned in and gave him a quick peck. Before he could pull away fully, Tommy pulled him back in to do the same. Darnold’s chest fluttered as they both pulled away, smiling at each other as the door began beeping.

“Oh. I guess the ship says it’s time.” Darnold said with a small laugh. “Umm—I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Okay. Talk to you soon.” Tommy replied.

Darnold stepped back, allowing the door to close. As he waited in the airlock, he watched through the little porthole window as Tommy headed back to the hovercar, casting a glance over his shoulder before climbing in and being whisked away.

Darnold let out a deep sigh as he reentered the ship, jumping in surprise as he saw Gordon in the control room, clearly just getting done putting his HEV suit away for the second time. Gordon looked him over with wide eyes.

“Dude, what?” He asked. “Where _were_ you? Without your HEV suit?”

Darnold’s face flushed a little. “Ummm—I was demonstrating the potion to Tommy.”

Gordon paused for a moment before a knowing smile spread across his face. “Oh, I see. Alright. How’d _that_ go?”

Darnold’s face burned as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Uhh—good. The potion works just fine. A little discomfort with exercise, but I guess maybe I’m just a little out of shape? Otherwise, a very...successful demonstration.”

“He took you to that club, didn’t he?” Gordon asked, closing the dock for his HEV suit and leaning back against it.

“...Yeah.” Darnold admitted with a shy smile.

“Did you try that one drink?” Gordon questioned in amusement. “I don’t know how to say it—that one, though, I’m sure Tommy would’ve mentioned it to you.”

Darnold snorted. “No, Dr. Freeman, I didn’t try the alien drink that makes you high. I didn’t take you for a stoner, by the way.”

“Hey, only sometimes.” Gordon said in mock defense. “It made me pass the fuck out while I was there last time, though. Benry still doesn’t stop making fun of me for that. You should try it sometime, if you think that’s your thing.”

“Well, who knows if I’ll be coming back here any time soon?” Darnold pointed out with a shrug.

“Hey, you never know when Mr. Coolatta will want to meet for some kinda status report.” Gordon said, moving towards the door back to the other rooms. “Well, I’m gonna go to bed. I’ll see you in, like, a couple hours.”

“Night, Gordon.”

As Gordon headed back to his room, Darnold paused to sit down in one of the nearby chairs, pulling out his phone again. He clicked on the first link Tommy had sent him. Tommy didn’t tend to post much on his various accounts; he posted pictures, though. Pictures of Benry, some nice landscapes, and food he must’ve bought. Some pictures were on Earth, but most of them seemed to be alien. He struggled to log into an old account he’d made forever ago and forgotten the password to, taking a moment to spruce up his profile a little before following Tommy. As he was standing up to head to his room, he almost immediately heard a chime from his phone—a notification letting him know Tommy had just followed him back. Darnold smiled and continued to his room.


End file.
